Just over a week ago, a frustrated beta tester submitted logs from the Windows Live Messenger 9 beta, the logs exposed issues relating to bugs that won't be fixed, and features that were voted up by the group and subsequently rejected by the WLM team. Due to the nature of the logs and information sent to us, Neowin declined to make an issue of it, that didn't stop Ars Technica however, NDA or not, the WLM9 beta testing group is highly frustrated according to their posting below.
"The first Windows Live Messenger 9.0 Beta build was released in November 2007. The release brought the ability to sign into Messenger from up to four computers at once, the ability to choose customized sounds for your sign-in and for your contacts, URLs in Personal Status Messages, and Animated Display Pictures. However, features requested across the many Messenger programs such as Tabbed Conversations and the ability to decline a group conversation invite were nowhere to be seen."
View: Full Article @ Ars Technica
"The first Windows Live Messenger 9.0 Beta build was released in November 2007. The release brought the ability to sign into Messenger from up to four computers at once, the ability to choose customized sounds for your sign-in and for your contacts, URLs in Personal Status Messages, and Animated Display Pictures. However, features requested across the many Messenger programs such as Tabbed Conversations and the ability to decline a group conversation invite were nowhere to be seen."
View: Full Article @ Ars Technica
As regards the lack of new builds, the WLM team has also stated that the original 'beta' was a dogfood release and that it went out extremely early to encourage feedback prior to MAJOR changes that are occurring in the client itself and that include features they cannot announce to the public yet - hence the lack of new builds since that time. I think the problem is that the WLM team did not communicate this point to the official testers at the start of the programme, and labeled it a 'beta' instead of an 'alpha', so people got the wrong impression about the stage of development WLM 9.0 was in when the programme began back in November. I imagine it will still be some time until we beta testers are given a new build, but I am certain it will be worth it and will include lots of changes when it does arrive, including many of the ones that have been requested on Connect by testers and marked 'Closed'.
As bellow, the annoying thing is how it auto closes windows if you close it on one pc.
No, it's actually a shame you're too lazy to read the explanation given for the delay, with reference to the hard work in which they are currently engaged.
No, it's actually a shame you're too lazy to read the explanation given for the delay, with reference to the hard work in which they are currently engaged.
Hard work bah.We had what 1 build which is plain crap, hard work would be giving us testers new builds every month. It's been 6 months since we had this build. It's buggy ha sissues and i get the feeling none of the feedback is even taken into consideration.
All these new features were closed and Postponed. Which infact means we at MS can't be bothered to add them in.
Apparently all feature requests from MSN 8 were ment to be taken into consideration but the same thing happened there as well, all closed and Postponed. Going further back to MSN 7 guess what, same thing again.
No, it's actually a shame you're too lazy to read the explanation given for the delay, with reference to the hard work in which they are currently engaged.
Hard work bah.We had what 1 build which is plain crap, hard work would be giving us testers new builds every month. It's been 6 months since we had this build. It's buggy ha sissues and i get the feeling none of the feedback is even taken into consideration.
All these new features were closed and Postponed. Which infact means we at MS can't be bothered to add them in.
Apparently all feature requests from MSN 8 were ment to be taken into consideration but the same thing happened there as well, all closed and Postponed. Going further back to MSN 7 guess what, same thing again.
You've lost the plot, mate. You're only reiterating the incorrect statements that I addressed in #1.1. The 'Closed' status is only for tracking purposes and means that the WLM team has actually added it to the list of potential features and wants to be able to track that action - it DOES NOT mean that the feature request was vetoed or ignored. I'll try to locate the post where a WLM team member explains that Connect's tracking system does not contain a 'Reviewed' status, so 'Closed' is the best option they have to denote that action.
The WLM team made it clear on the Connect forums that it is a DOGFOOD build, not a standard beta, and that there were no plans to release another build for quite awhile, as they are working on major additions to the client at the moment that they do not want leaked to the public.
I don't know how much clearer that can be; they released an alpha build in this cycle of WLM precisely so that they could get feedback at an earlier stage and AVOID the problem of suggestions not making it into the next releases because they were introduced too late in the development cycle. The build on Connect was not meant to be followed by a new build for a very long time, precisely because they are now adding in a number of requested features and other enhancements. We'll get new builds when they've reached the actual beta stage of development - get it?
No, it's actually a shame you're too lazy to read the explanation given for the delay, with reference to the hard work in which they are currently engaged.
Hard work bah.We had what 1 build which is plain crap, hard work would be giving us testers new builds every month. It's been 6 months since we had this build. It's buggy ha sissues and i get the feeling none of the feedback is even taken into consideration.
All these new features were closed and Postponed. Which infact means we at MS can't be bothered to add them in.
Apparently all feature requests from MSN 8 were ment to be taken into consideration but the same thing happened there as well, all closed and Postponed. Going further back to MSN 7 guess what, same thing again.
You've lost the plot, mate. You're only reiterating the incorrect statements that I addressed in #1.1. The 'Closed' status is only for tracking purposes and means that the WLM team has actually added it to the list of potential features and wants to be able to track that action - it DOES NOT mean that the feature request was vetoed or ignored. I'll try to locate the post where a WLM team member explains that Connect's tracking system does not contain a 'Reviewed' status, so 'Closed' is the best option they have to denote that action.
The WLM team made it clear on the Connect forums that it is a DOGFOOD build, not a standard beta, and that there were no plans to release another build for quite awhile, as they are working on major additions to the client at the moment that they do not want leaked to the public.
I don't know how much clearer that can be; they released an alpha build in this cycle of WLM precisely so that they could get feedback at an earlier stage and AVOID the problem of suggestions not making it into the next releases because they were introduced too late in the development cycle. The build on Connect was not meant to be followed by a new build for a very long time, precisely because they are now adding in a number of requested features and other enhancements. We'll get new builds when they've reached the actual beta stage of development - get it?
No you see you just dont get it, i been an MSN tester for years, im an original butterfly person as well.
I can tell you NOW they have taken the same approach with all the MSN versions from 7 till 9, all they do is mark features as closed, and most bugs as wont fix.
I am NOT new to this whole beta testing thing. Many times we have made suggestion and logged bugs, and nothings been done.
Hehe, you beat me tooooooooooo it.
They have their own ideas and features to work on (not really in demand by customers) and everything else comes second, regardless of how serious or requested they are. WLM seems to a half finished application, there are so many loose ends and features that need more work, new stuff is constantly added that would be so much better if they just spent some more time on it.
End of whinge.
They can do what they like and people should stop complaining - instead, learn a few programming languages and commit to the pidgin repository. That way we all get what we want i.e. software that works in the way we (as the user and not a corporation) want it to work.
Oh.. know I get it!!!
Tabbed conversations.. hmmmm...... seems like the WLM beta testers are crying over the group NOT implementing the great ideas that Patchou wrote/created with his Plus! program.
How sweet... would you folk like a box of tissues to go with those tears or a shoulder to cry on?
Why don't you leave WLM to the design team, focus on giving back the info they request, and help support Patchou and his work by spreading the word and donating to his cause?? (and don't give me crap about the add-on for Ads that you can clearly dismiss when installing)
a magic ball perhaps? there is many misleading information regarding microsoft and its products. Im not defending them but at least as a reader i want to be presented with real facts and information, not speculation...
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.